Gardner-Webb's Holtmann ready for 3rd year

Tuesday

Oct 9, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 9, 2012 at 4:56 PM

CHARLOTTE — When practice starts Friday, Gardner-Webb men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann won’t have any problem getting his players’ attention. Just four weeks ahead, the Runnin’ Bulldogs open the season at North Carolina.

It’s the kind of test Holtmann embraces at the start of his third year.

Clark Leonard

CHARLOTTE — When practice starts Friday, Gardner-Webb men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann won’t have any problem getting his players’ attention. Just four weeks ahead, the Runnin’ Bulldogs open the season at North Carolina.

It’s the kind of test Holtmann embraces at the start of his third year.

“If you can go into those games with a fearless approach, you go into any game with a fearless approach,” Holtmann said Tuesday at the Big South Conference Media Day, where the Runnin' Bulldogs were picked to finish fifth out of six teams in the league's South Division. “We want to play aggressive.”

Holtmann feels good about having eight returnees, including six who have started at least one game. He subscribes to former Southern California football coach Pete Carroll’s notion of a program being about building great recruiting classes that make for a solid, competitive team.

Holtmann said GWU is moving in that direction.

After going 7-12 in games decided by six points or less in a 12-20 campaign in 2011-12, Holtmann feels like his team is more competitive from that experience.

“We narrowed the gap,” Holtmann said.

Now, he added, it’s time to put more of those contests in the win column.

Sophomore guards Max Landis and Tyler Strange each averaged at least 20 minutes per game, with Landis scoring 9.5 points per contest — second on the team — and Strange dishing out 87 assists.

Also returning are veteran post players Mike Byron and Kevin Hartley. Sophomore wing Donta Harper came on strong at the end of the 2011-12 season. Holtmann is also eager to see the impact of 6-foot-6, 215-pound junior college transfer Onzie Branch on the wing and 6-foot, 180-pound Central Florida transfer Jarvis Davis at guard.

Guards Isaiah Ivey and Logan Stumpf and forward Jerome Hill are the program’s three true freshmen, who Holtmann expects to make a quick impact.

In addition to UNC, Gardner-Webb plays at DePaul, Iowa and Illinois in non-conference play. Holtmann is particularly looking forward to home games against Lipscomb, Tennessee Tech and The Citadel, as well.